1. Indian Classical Music and Davy Graham
By: Catherine Durcan
IB Music Theory

2. India: Demographics Population: 1,220,800,359 (July 2013 est.)
Area: 3,287,263 sq. km
Ethnicities: 72% Indo-Aryan, 25% Dravidian, 3% Mongoloid and other
Religions: 80.5% Hinduism, 13.4% Muslim, 2.3% Christian, 1.9% Sikh, 1.8% other, 0.1% unspecified
Languages: 41% Hindi, 8.1% Bengali, 7.2% Telugu, 7% Marathi, 5.9% Tamil, 5% Urdu, 4.5% Gujarati, 3.7% Kannada, 3.2% Malayalam, 3.2% Oriya, 2.8% Punjabi, 1.3% Assamese, 1.2% Maithili, 5.9% other
English is the subsidiary official language
Capital: New Delphi
Shares borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, Nepal, and Pakistan
Also borders the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal

3. Geography
Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north
Terrain:
-Upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in the south
-Flat to rolling plains along the Ganges
-Deserts in the west
-Himalayas in the north

5. Hinduism: Influencing Indian Music
Origin of Indian Classical music can be traced back to the Vedas, the primary sacred text of Hinduism.
Four Vedas: Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Arhtarva Veda
Rig Veda: Divine Hymns, important prayers and the oldest, most important veda
Sama Veda: Contains music to be sung and is the origin of Indian Classical Music. It defines the seven swaras (notes) and its music has been passed down through generations for over three thousand years
Yajur Veda: Known as the karma veda. Describes rituals and sacrifices during the vedic period
Artharva Veda: Contains magical remedies and chants for curing illnesses and a small number of incantations for cursing enemies

6. Main Features Raga: a melodic framework based on a set of notes
Pieces are often improvised using the raga as the foundation of the piece
Ragas can have 5-12 tones and some ragas have a different number of notes when they ascend and descend
Each raga belongs to a modal structure called a thaat (in North Indian music) or a mela (in South Indian music)
Notation: sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, and sa
Tala (or taal): the rhythmic pattern of a piece
Sounds produced by the tala are often vocalized (e.g. dhaa, ga, ka, ke)
These are called bols. Bols combined together create the tala.
Monophonic
Does not use harmony
Requires use of a drone
Dialogue between instruments

7. Instruments Sitar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTPxqUtlLdo Tanpura
Tabla
Mridangam

8. Instruments (continued)
Kanjira
Violin
Used mainly in Carnatic music and is played using a different technique than in Western music
Often used to accompany Carnatic (South Indian) vocalists

9. Hindustani VS Carnatic
North India: Hindustani
Hindustani Ragas are usually played at certain times of the day or during different seasons
South India: Carnatic
There are more Carnatic ragas than Hindustani because Carnatic music uses shrutis (semi-tones) which allow the creation of more ragas
Use of the Violin is more prominent in Carnatic music
Similarities:
Both Hindustani and Carnatic music do share some of the same ragas however, they usually use different names and are played in a way that shows distinctive Hindustani or Carnatic Styles

10. Anoushka Shankar
Daughter of the famous Indian sitar player, Ravi Shankar
Started playing sitar at age nine and was taught by her father
Debuted professionally as a classical sitar player at age thirteen
Was the first Indian female and youngest ever nominee for a Grammy in the world music category
Established herself as a well-known classical sitar player on a global scale in her twenties
As a composer, Shankar blends Classical music with genres such as flamenco, jazz, electronica, and Western classical music

11. Raga Jog Traditional Hindustani raga Commonly used raga
Traditionally sung or played in the hours just after midnight
The word “jog” means a state of enchantment
Uses the rhythmic cycle Adi Taal- an eight beat cycle
Instruments: sitar, violin, tanpura, shehnai, and various Indian percussion such as the mridanga and kanjira
The sitar, violin, shehnai, and percussionist each have a small solo part in the raga
The violin is played in the Carnatic style
(full version)

12. Davy Graham (1940- 2008) British Folk-blues guitarist
Influenced by traditional folk, blues, jazz, North African, Indian, and Arabic music
Travelled often and his ideas were ahead of his time
Travelled to India
Most well-known piece, “Anji”, was released in 1962
Influenced many artists who came after him: Pentangle, John Martin, Martin Carthy, and Jimmy Page
Created alternate tuning for the guitar called DADGAD
Blended traditional Irish music and Indian Classical when he played the Irish folk song, “She Moved Through the Fair” in the style of an Indian raga
ztQk (She Moved Through the Fair)

13. DADGAD Associated with Celtic music and Indian folk music
Used in genres besides folk/traditional including rock, pop, New Age, and many more
This tuning can be achieved from standard tuning by tuning the first, second, and sixth string down a whole step which creates an open D suspended chord and makes the tuning neither major nor minor
DADGAD uses many movable chords that allow open strings therefore, when played it creates a drone effect

14. Sunshine Raga Released in 1968
Part of the album: Large As Life And Twice As Natural
Uses an original tuning Graham created as a blend of eastern modal tunings
Instruments: Guitar and drums
The guitar is used to imitate the playing style of the sitar
A drone effect is created by the open strings of the guitar
The drums are played in the style of the tabla

15. Comparison Similarities They are both essentially ragas
Use of the drone
Indian rhythmic ideas
Playing style of the guitar and sitar are similar
Monophonic

16. Comparison: Differences
Raga Jog
Sunshine Raga
Use of the tanpura to create the drone
Uses traditional Indian instruments and has a greater variety of instruments
Pure traditional music
Use of the guitar’s open strings to create a drone effect
Uses only two instruments and they are not Indian instruments
Fusion of different styles

17. Work cited http://www.carnatica.net/ragasystem.htm
factbook/geos/in.html
dGamelan.aspx

18. Work Cited http://www.folkblues.co.uk/artistsgraham.html

19. Picture References: http://www.squidoo.com/only-in-india
Pro-Indian-Sitar-Extras.html